Strate SQL

I’ll be speaking for the SQL PASS Database Administration Virtual Chapter today at 12 PM Eastern time.  The topic will be Using XML to Query Execution Plans.  The abstract for the event is the following:

SQL Server stores its execution plans as XML in dynamic management views. The execution plans are a gold mine of information. From the whether or not the execution plan will rely on parallelism to what columns are requiring a key lookup after a non-clustered index seek. Through a the use of XML this information can be available at your fingertips to help determine the value and impact of an index and guide you in improving the performance of your SQL Server databases. In this session we’ll look at how you can begin to understand and query the structure of the execution plans in the procedure cache. Also, we’ll review how to uncover some potential performance issues that may be lurking in your SQL Server.

You can get to the event here.

I’ll be speaking for the SQL PASS Database Administration Virtual Chapter next week.  It’ll be on July 28 at 12 PM Eastern time.  The topic will be Using XML to Query Execution Plans.  The abstract for the event is the following:

SQL Server stores its execution plans as XML in dynamic management views. The execution plans are a gold mine of information. From the whether or not the execution plan will rely on parallelism to what columns are requiring a key lookup after a non-clustered index seek. Through a the use of XML this information can be available at your fingertips to help determine the value and impact of an index and guide you in improving the performance of your SQL Server databases. In this session we’ll look at how you can begin to understand and query the structure of the execution plans in the procedure cache. Also, we’ll review how to uncover some potential performance issues that may be lurking in your SQL Server.

If you register for the event ahead of time you will be entered into a drawing brought to us from CA, our event sponsor.  You can get to the event here.

I’ll be speaking for the SQL PASS Performance Virtual Chapter later today starting at 12 PM Eastern time.  The topic will be Performance Impacts Related to Different Function Types.  The abstract for the event is the following:

User defined functions provide a means to encapsulate business logic in the database tier.  Often the purpose of the encapsulation is to provide standard method access segments of data within the database.  Unfortunately, not all methods of creating user defined functions are equal.  In this session we’ll review the types of user defined functions and investigate the performance impact in selecting the different types

Goals:

• Identify purposes for creating user defined functions
• Discuss the types of user-defined functions
• Demonstrate performance impact in selecting different types of functions

You can get to the event here.

I’ll be speaking for the SQL PASS Performance Virtual Chapter next week.  It’ll be on July 6 at 12 PM Eastern time.  The topic will be Performance Impacts Related to Different Function Types.  The abstract for the event is the following:

User defined functions provide a means to encapsulate business logic in the database tier.  Often the purpose of the encapsulation is to provide standard method access segments of data within the database.  Unfortunately, not all methods of creating user defined functions are equal.  In this session we’ll review the types of user defined functions and investigate the performance impact in selecting the different types

Goals:

• Identify purposes for creating user defined functions
• Discuss the types of user-defined functions
• Demonstrate performance impact in selecting different types of functions

You can get to the event here.

Go get the popcorn and let’s get ready to watch some PASS sessions!  Last month PASS hosted an event called 24 Hours of PASS.  In this event, there were 24 back to back webcasts that focused on SQL Server and more specifically SQL Server 2008 R2.  As if that weren’t awesome enough, you can now go back and watch any of the 24 Hours of PASS sessions that you may have missed.

So if you weren’t downing the Red Bull and missed some or all of the sessions, you don’t need to feel left out any longer.  Here’s a list of the available topics:

• Introduction to PowerPivot (Brian Knight)
• Database Development Patterns (Andy Leonard)
• What Exactly is in SQL Server 2008 R2 (Kevin Cox)
• Getting Started with SQL Server Utility in SQL Server 2008 R2 (Glenn Berry)
• Data Tier Applications (Jacob Sebastien)
• What’s Really Happening on Your Server? 15 Powerful SQL Server Dynamic Management Objects (Adam Machanic)
• Filtered Indexes, Sparse Columns: Together, Separately (Don Vilen)
• Solving Common Business Problems with Microsoft PowerPivot (Donald Farmer)
• Exploring SQL Server 2005 and 2008 Security (Don Kiely)
• Using Data Compression with SQL Server 2008 and 2008 R2 (Maciej Pilecki)
• Easier than Ever Report Authoring in SSRS 2008 R2 (Jessica M. Moss)
• High Performance Functions (Simon Sabin)
• Manage Your DBA Career, Don’t Let it Manage You (Brad McGehee)
• Top 10 Mistakes on SQL Server (Kevin Kline)
• Producing Dashboards with PerformancePoint Services (Peter Myers)
• Reporting Services Enhancements in SQL Server 2008 (Greg Low)
• SQL Tuning – Get it Right the First Time (Dean Richards)
• Managing SSIS Package Deployments with Powershell (Sean McCown)
• Multi-Server Management With UCP, MDW and PBM (Chuck Heinzelman)
• Advanced T-SQL Query Tuning Techniques (Rob Farley)
• Implementing MDM Using SQL Server 2008 R2 Master Data Services (Rushabh Mehta)
• SQL 2008 R2 How to Manage CPU’s, Cores and CPU Groups (Thomas Grohser)
• Database Design Fundamentals (Louis Davidson)
• BLITZ! 60 Minute Server Takeovers (Brent Ozar)

You’ll need to be a PASS member to view the sessions, but if you are interested in them you shouldn’t have an issue with that.

I was a little slow at submitting this year, but this afternoon I submitted my ideas for sessions for PASS Summit 2010.  If you aren’t aware of this conference – it’s probably the best way out there to learn a ton about SQL Server while networking with the people that use it daily and helped build the product.  An aware attendee will also hear rumblings of the following while at PASS – twitter, karaoke, kilts, bacon, stickers, and jagermeister.

Without any further ado, I thought I’d share the sessions that I submitted for consideration this year.

Extended Events, Work Smarter Not Harder

Often, as DBAs, we are presented with the prospect of resolving performance issues. Consider a situation where Bob the Developer shows up at your desk accusing the server of inadequacies and expecting resolution. A couple weeks of digging through log files and traces and you are able to identify code that Bob the Developer deployed that was the root of the problem. What if there was a way to do this type of performance tuning before Bob the Developer shows up and before Sue the User figures out there are performance issues? In this session we’ll take a look at Extended Events, which is one of the newer SQL Server monitoring platforms, and how you can leverage it in every day scenarios. We’ll discuss the ins and outs of how to get detailed information on the errors and events that occur within SQL Server and how to understand the information. With just a few T-SQL statements, issues that could take weeks to research can be investigated in minutes.

Getting a Grip – Adventures in Multi-Server Management

Today’s SQL Server environments have seen an explosion of databases without a similar increase in DBAs. This change has allowed management of non-mission-critical databases to interfere with mission-critical databases. Beginning with SQL Server 2008, a number of tools were introduced to help you take better control of your SQL Server environment and deal with “database sprawl.” Some of these tools include the advent of Policy Based Management to the addition of the Utility Control Point, in SQL Server 2008 R2. In this session, we’ll take a look at the tools already at your disposal and some free CodePlex tools that you can use to get a grip on your SQL Server environment.

Getting To Know Your Indexes

Without proper indexing SQL Server can be hard pressed to create efficient and performant execution plans. Dynamic Management Views (DMV) and system views provide a slew of information about indexes that can be used to analyze indexes within SQL Server. In this session we’ll go under the hood of SQL Server to look at DMVs and system views to know what indexes you have, should have, and how they feel about the way applications are treating them.

Using XML to Query Execution Plans

SQL Server stores its execution plans as XML in dynamic management views. The execution plans are a gold mine of information. From the whether or not the execution plan will rely on parallelism to what columns are requiring a key lookup after a non-clustered index seek. Through a the use of XML this information can be available at your fingertips to help determine the value and impact of an index and guide you in improving the performance of your SQL Server databases. In this session we’ll look at how you can begin to understand and query the structure of the execution plans in the procedure cache. Also, we’ll review how to uncover some potential performance issues that may be lurking in your SQL Server.

PASS announced today it’s Call for Speakers for the 2010 PASS Summit.  This is an opportunity to share your experiences and knowledge with SQL Server Community. 

Do you have some tricks that have made your job a success that you can share?  Did you work on an interesting project with hurdles that were overcome with the use of SQL Server features?  Here is your time to shine and share what you know.

PASS is looking for sessions in the following areas:

• Enterprise Database Administration and Deployment
• Application and Database Development
• BI Platform Architecture, Development and Administration
• BI Information Delivery
• Professional Development

But I’m Not Qualified

Do use SQL Server?  Well then you have the first necessary qualification.  If you are using it then I absolutely bet that you have learned something that at least 50 of the probably 3,500 attendees will be interested in hearing about for 75 minutes.

Will you be able stand in front of your peers and no run off?  Then you have the second qualification licked.  Many of us have thought about running off right before a presentation before – and sometimes in the middle of them.  Heck, at my second presentation I asked if they wanted me to bow out since the first gentleman had gone over his time.  I wasn’t being accommodating – I was petrified.

Yeah, but I am not as _____ as Brent, Bucky, Jimmy, Paul, Kimberly, Adam, Kalen, or Kevin.  Of course this list could on for a while.  Insert whatever adjective you want in the blank.  I’ll agree outright that neither am I.  We all have different experiences and styles and increasing the variety at the PASS Summit will only make it better.  Heck, they took me in last year.  I bet you would do just as well as I do.

I’m Not Ready For PASS

If I haven’t convinced you, but you still have an open mind.  I encourage you to present at your local user group.  If you are already doing that, then make the jump to presenting at SQL Saturday events.  SQL Saturdays are great lead ups to the PASS Summit.

Sure, you could say that making a Jack Bauer reference for the 24 Hours of PASS event is corny and expected.  But then you’d be right and I’d have to actually use my creative juices.  So we’ll agree on a détente of sorts and just move ahead.

Coming up next month… on May 19 beginning at 12:00 GMT (UTC) and mixed in amongst some SQL Saturday events and the launch of SQL Server 2008 R2… will be this years 24 Hours of PASS event; which will be focusing on features part of the SQL Server 2008 R2 product.

If you haven’t registered to see these, I highly recommend checking them out.  The event starts with Brian Knight and an Introduction to PowerPivot and ends 24 hours later with Brent Ozar and his Blitz! 60 Minute Server Takeover.

The single word that best describes this past weekend is… awesome.  While there were some occasional bumps in the road – Wendy Pastrick (blog | twitter), Ted Krueger (blog | twitter), and Aaron Lowe (blog | twitter) deserves major props for putting this together.  Outstanding job!

There were a couple lumps so I’ll get those out first:

• Google Maps decided to change my route to Chicago from taking 90 to taking 14.  This would have increased my drive time by an hour.  Next time I’ll use Bing Maps.
• My hotel bed sucked.  No idea what it did to me but many people noticed that I was not quite right on Saturday morning.  A terrible night sleep kind of caused that.
• Major Boo! to Old Chicago.  Sarah got a cold steak from an over worked waitress.  Two hostess and a manager were walking around while the poor girl got slammed when a conference of 300 people let out.
• Pat’s Mai Tai didn’t have Mai or Tai in it.

Obviously, these things couldn’t be fixed by the organizers.  Regardless of the beds in the hotels, I’ll always stay where the blocks of rooms are – it just makes it much more worth it.

#SQLAwesome

Now there were lots of things that were just great for this SQL Saturday.  Of course, since I did the lumps with bullets, these get bullets too.  So here are the awesomes:

• Conference and hotel at the same location.  This was wonderful – I checked in and didn’t need to worry about driving for the rest of the program.
• After party at the hotel – same deal as the conference.  Location, location, location.
• While my morning was bumpy, the SQL Server comedy show by Kevin Kline (blog | twitter) and Brent Ozar (blog | twitter) helped lift my cloud and get people in the right mood for the day.
• My sessions on Using XML to Query Execution Plans and Extended Events – Work Smarter, Not Harder.  Of course I mention my sessions, but these were probably the two most fun sessions I’ve done to date.
• Spending the day after SQL Saturday in Millennium Plaza Park and on Navy Pier.  It was a gorgeous day.
• Hot dogs, Philly cheese steaks, and cheese fries.  I ate these and they were good.

#SQLKaraoke – The After Party

This is part of #sqlawesome, but I guess it gets its own section.  The reason being is that the after party was as good as a night at Bush Gardens at PASS.  That is a huge standard to live up to and the SQL Saturday Chicago After Party achieved that.  If you were at the SQL Saturday event and skipped the after party, you really missed a good time.

We enjoyed some shop talk.  Ok, I don’t really know about that, but I think other people were talking shop.  Others grabbed some drinks and appetizers.  And a few others sang some karaoke.  I was one of those singers.  This was the saddest part of the event.  You can find some of the event on Tim Ford’s (blog | twitter) event post.  Or some evidence of it on Pat Wrights (blog | twitter) YouTube channel.

If you’d like to see my photos from the party, feel free to friend me on facebook.

Compliments

I’m a huge fan of feedback.  Both the good and the bad.  Unsolicited goods are great, after the event I did get the following two compliments.  The first was an e-mail…

And then a tweet…

Thanks for these.  It’s great to be able to help people.  If anyone sat in and has other comments, I’m more than interested in hearing them.  These help make the presentations better for those that will see them again in the future.

Almost time to hit the road… and I’m heading to SQL Saturday 31 in Chicago.  Rumor has it that this weekend will provide an awesome experience.  From the presentations being provided to the karaoke after party – I’m expecting a great time.

If you will be at SQL Saturday 31, please stop by and introduce yourself.  And if it suits your fancy, sit down and listen in on my topics.  I am scheduled for the following topics:

Using XML to Query Execution Plans

SQL Server stores its execution plans as XML in dynamic management views.  The execution plans are a gold mine of information.  From the whether or not the execution plan will rely on parallelism to what columns are requiring a key lookup after a non-clustered index seek.  Through a the use of XML this information can be available at your finger tips to help determine the value and impact of an index and guide you in improving the performance of your SQL Server databases.

Goals:

1. Discuss information available in an execution plan
2. Demonstrate use of XQuery to query execution cache
3. Demonstrate methods to performance tune

Extended Events – Work Smarter, Not Harder

There are many ways to performance monitor your SQL Server environment.  In this session we’ll review Extended Events, which is one of the newer SQL Server monitoring platforms.  Learn the ins and outs of how to get detailed information on the errors and events that occur within SQL Server and how to dig into the information.  With a few T-SQL statements, issues that could take weeks to research can be investigated in minutes.

Goals:

1. Define the architecture for Extended Events
2. Identify scenarios where Extended Event can be used to troubleshoot performance
3. Demonstrate solutions to real-world performance scenarios

I’ll be staying an extra day in Chicago after the conference, so if anyone has ideas on what I should do please leave a comment.  I haven’t been in Chicago since I was 10 or 11 years old so it’s probably changed a bit.  So far I have been told to get a hot dog from a street vendor and check out the piers.  Any other ideas are very welcome.

PASSMN Meeting Next Tuesday

The Minnesota SQL Server User Group (twitter | website) is meeting next week on Tuesday (4/20/2010).  The meeting should be smoking and I’m not meaning the 4-20 kind.  The meeting will start with a Visual Studio 2010 for the SQL Developers.  Next, Fusion IO (twitter | website) will be on of the presenters on SSD and they have an awesome giveaway – A DRIVE VALUED AT $7,000.  If you plan to attend, please, please, please RSVP so that we can order enough food.  We were a little too close last month and too little is always awkward.